Aberdeen attacker Adam Rooney hopes his club form can lead to international recognition with the Republic of Ireland.
The Dons forward scored his 20th goal, and unquestionably his best, of the season in his 30th appearance for the Reds in Friday’s 1-1 draw at St Johnstone.
His goals have helped take Aberdeen to second place in the Scottish Premiership, the semi-finals of the League Cup and helped give the club its highest profile in years.
But an elusive first cap for his country eludes him.
Rooney, who has nine caps for the Irish under-21s, would love to earn his first full national cap for his country but knows he must maintain his scoring rate if he is to catch the eye of international manager Martin O’Neill and his assistant Roy Keane.
The Dons attacker said: “It would obviously be great to be involved with the national team but it’s more important to perform for my club first.
“I need to do as well as I can. As an attacker it’s all about scoring goals or if I’m wide it’s about setting them up. If it gets me recognised at international level that is a nice bonus.
“But it depends on what the manager thinks. Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane have come in and they will have their own ideas on players and it’s up to them.
“I just have to keep our focus is on doing well her and if anything comes on the back of me doing well here then that’s great.”
Aberdeen missed out on the opportunity to return to the top of the Scottish Premiership on Friday and now trail champions Celtic by three points after the Hoops’ win at Ross County on Saturday.
The Dons remain coy about the prospects of contesting the championship but Rooney is delighted with the run of results which has brought 26 points from a possible 30.
He said: “The main thing is we are up there but we can’t look at other teams.
“We have to keep the focus on what we are doing but we are aware Dundee United, Hamilton and Caley Thistle are all going well.
“That has made it a tight and exciting league and we want to make sure we can keep this great run we are on going.”